Editor’s note: This column includes mention of murder and sexual assault.
“Woman of the Hour,” a Netflix original film and “Pitch Perfect” actress Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, was recently released Oct. 18.
The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival September 2023, has been receiving positive reviews. It gained a 91% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Kendrick won the Directors to Watch award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Jan. 5.
After recently watching this film for the first time, I did appreciate its technical aspects. However, I found the treatment of the subject to be a bit hollow.
The film, based on true events, follows several victims of the serial killer Rodney Alcala, with a focus on the time he went on a dating show in 1978. The film focuses on Cheryl Bradshaw, who was the actual bachelorette on “The Dating Game” and was presented with Alcala as a suitor in 1978. In the film, Cheryl, portrayed by Anna Kendrick, is an aspiring actress who agrees to be a bachelorette on “The Dating Game,” where she interviews three potential bachelors with the goal of choosing one to go on a date with. Little does she know, one of the bachelors is Alcala (Daniel Zovatto). The film uses non-linear storytelling by interspersing this storyline with stories about Alaca’s other victims, most of whom did not make it out of their encounters alive.
Alcala, often referred to as the “Dating Game Killer,” was a serial killer and convicted sex offender who committed murders in California, New York and Wyoming between 1977-79. Alcala also had a collection of hundreds of photographs he took of adult and teenage women, most in sexually explicit positions.
He was first charged with murder and sentenced to death in 1980. However, it took two more trials until he was convicted in February 2010. In the end, he was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder, but it is believed that the true number of his victims could have been up to 130 people.
“Woman of the Hour” only showed the stories of five of his victims, and did not include any of his trials. However, it displayed the lack of effort police put into stopping Alcala, despite many people reporting him. In the film, one of the audience members for “The Dating Game” recognizes Alcala because he had murdered her friend. She tries to tell the show runners to stop the show and later goes to the police to report Alcala, however no one listens to her, and they do nothing to help.
The film did a good job of exhibiting Alcala’s cruelty and the impact he had on so many people’s lives by showing how charismatic he seemed. For example, in the film, he was consistently the only bachelor on “The Dating Game” who gave sensible, nonmisogynistic answers, which led to his victory on the show. The fact that the show’s producers let him on a dating show at all exemplifies how well he was able to mask his violent nature. Watching this happen in the movie was very frightening as it displays how dangerous people can hide so easily before your very eyes. The movie reveals how simple it would be to trust him and could act as a warning sign to women today to be more careful around strangers.
However, I think that the movie’s marketing and focus being centered on the fact that Alcala went on a dating show diminished the impact the movie had on me. When I first read the synopsis for the film, I imagined some catastrophe would occur during the show, when in reality, nothing very bad came of his television appearance.
I understand why Netflix decided to market and focus the movie on this encounter as it is very unlikely for a serial killer to end up on a dating show and thus provides a more gripping plot than just telling another serial killer story. However, I feel like this undermines the extent of harm Alcala caused so many women.
While the film briefly touches on the stories other women Alcala killed, I feel that this does not make up for ignoring the over 100 people he assaulted. The film provides some context before the credits about how many people he killed and how long it took for him to be convicted of only seven of these murders, but I feel like adding this in quickly at the end diminishes the impact of his killing spree and the following trials.
It was not until after I watched the movie and started reading more about Alcala and the stories of some of his surviving victims that I understood the extent of his crimes. I feel that if they had delved further into Alcala’s murders and the public’s frustration following his trials, the film would have had a bigger impact on me and would have more authentically represented the full extent of the many tragedies exhibited.
I believe the movie was trying to take the subject matter seriously and be respectful, but I think with the structure used and the short runtime of 95 minutes, it simply wasn’t able to portray the events with the depth they deserved. I must say that the movie did excel in technicalities, with very strong performances from the actors, striking visuals and good writing. It is definitely a promising directorial debut for Kendrick, and I am excited to see how she moves forward with directing.
If you are a fan of suspenseful, true stories, I would check this film out, but I would also recommend looking further into the events that inspired the film. After watching it, I can say the reality is far more shocking and heartbreaking than what is shown in the film.
